this is the first time we at schreiner college are leaving three residential
areas open for students to stay during the thanksgiving, winter, and spring
breaks.  if the student is a resident of one of those areas, fabulous, but
if a resident from one of our other halls wants to stay, she/he must get
permission from a resident in one of the open halls to stay in their room.
(we have the "host" and the "guest" sign a form indicating that everyone is
cool with the arrangement.)  right now, students are not required to pay an
additional fee for staying, although this very well could change if we
continue this in the future.  students do not need a specific reason for
staying in the halls, but we are asking them to let us know in advance if
they are planning to stay.  normally during a break, we lock students out of
their rooms to help deter break-ins/theft--most rooms here have an
additional "lockout" deadbolt to which the RD has a key.  (when the staff
goes through checking the rooms at the beginning of each break to make sure
appliances are unplugged, etc., the RD locks the room.  students cannot have
access to their room during the breaks.)  students will be asked to indicate
which days they will be here, and we will make sure that the lockout
deadbolt to their room is not locked during those days.  this way, we will
also know how many and which students will be around and for which parts of
the breaks.

as far as staffing goes, we are having an RA on duty (24 hours) in each of
those areas as well as an RD on call for the campus.  (pretty much the
regular setup except that during the breaks the RAs are on 24 hours.)
unfortunately, the decision to keep three areas open and to have staff
coverage was an administrative decision made in may: well after we selected
our new staff for the 2000-2001 year.  the RAs and RDs alike obviously had
no clue that this would be an expectation (and naturally, no money was added
to the residence life budget to compensate the staff for having to work the
breaks) when they decided to return/take the position.  we had some
(deserved) resistance, but this year we have tweaked the reslife budget to
financially compensate both RAs and RDs.  we will definitely be evaluating
the whole process, and are considering the possibility of making working
part of a break one of the normal responsibilities of a staff member.
(another school where i worked was open during thanksgiving and spring
breaks, and it was a natural part of the duties to provide coverage without
any extra compensation.  the apartment-style facility at that school was
open during the winter break as well, but our campus public safety staff
provided coverage during that time.)

some suggestions if you are considering doing this:
--  let staff know in advance if this is going to be an expectation.  there
are some folks who would not have returned as RA/RD and there are some
students who would not have become an RA this year if they had known they
would have to work some breaks.  other students love the opportunity to make
some extra money!
--  decide whether or not the coverage will be for 24 hours or for the
normal duty times.  this was not decided here until after the staff arrived
for training!
--  do some research as to whether or not the service will really be used!
certainly athletes were an easily identifiable group that would benefit from
this arrangement, but there may be other ways for those groups to
accommodate themselves.  part of the concern here was for the homeless
students we have--no place else to go.
--  examine the cost of utilities and what it takes to physically run the
building--how much will the institution spend on utilities during those
times?  is it worth it to keep the heat on in a building for only a few
people during the winter break? (for example)  here there is no food
service, nor any custodial service during the times the college is closed.
--  know whether you will make this an expectation of the position or an
opportunity to bring in some bucks.  culturally at the other school where i
was, not being paid wasn't a big deal because it was just another RA
responsibility.  when initiating it for the first time, folks might wonder
what they get out of doing extra work and losing vacation time.  (i have to
add here that at that other school, the RAs were compensated quite
handsomely--room, board, and a stipend, so it was very easy to justify the
"extra work")
 
 

The content on these pages was originally provided by Brian C. Steinberg, the founder of http://www.theallygroup.org and http://www.safezoneforall.com (Creater of the previous: http://www.residentassistant.com/reslifepro)

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